Did Neanderthals and Humans Mate? The Answer, Again, is No

(Ed: Newer research suggests that Homo sapiens and Neanderthals did in fact interbreed. On average, two to four percent of DNA in present-day humans who trace their ancestry from Europe or Asia comes from our Neanderthal cousins. 23andMe customers can check out their own Neanderthal ancestry here! — 12/16/11)

Despite mounting genetic evidence that modern humans are not descended from Neanderthals, there are still some who argue that our two species interbred when both roamed Europe about 35,000 years ago.

A report appearing tomorrow in the journal Cell puts another nail in that theory’s coffin. Svante Paabo’s group at the Max Planck Institute for Anthropology in Germany has produced the first-ever complete sequence of a Neanderthal’s mitochondrial genome. Their analysis shows that the last common ancestor of humans and Neanderthals walked the Earth on the order of 660,000 years ago – hundreds of millennia earlier than the most recent common ancestor of all humans living today.

Mitochondrial DNA is passed down intact from mother to child. All people living today can use mitochondrial DNA to trace their maternal line back to the Mother of all Mothers (MoM), who probably lived about 175,000 years ago in eastern Africa.

When working with ancient DNA, researchers have to contend with several technical problems. Contamination by DNA from laboratory workers must be carefully avoided. And even if contamination is controlled, the inevitable chemical breakdown of DNA that has been buried for thousands of years can skew results. Lead author Richard Green and his colleagues avoided both of these pitfalls by sequencing the mitochondrial DNA nearly 35 times over.

“For the first time, we’ve built a sequence from ancient DNA that is essentially without error,” Green said in a statement.

The authors say that their success at sequencing the mitochondrial genome of a Neanderthal will help in their ultimate goal of sequencing the species’ much larger and more complicated nuclear genome, which could then be compared with a modern human genome to identify genes that were important in the emergence of Homo sapiens.

Another old article that is refuted by newer research. I’m looking for what changed since only two years ago studies that were done in essentially the same manner resulted in strong conclusions as in this article, and now the evidence to the contrary is so convincing.

Additional Info.

Welcome to the 23andMe blog. We invite your comment, just please be respectful. Abusive comments may be moderated. For help or questions visit Customer Care. Our contributors are scientists, researchers and writers here at 23andMe. We’re interested in helping people explore their own DNA and what it can tell them about themselves. Learn more at our website or check out our store!